I love browsing Substack in the morning for this content and not scrolling IG and getting trash . Hopefully we get some solid peak years of Substack before it shittifies into mercantilism
I really needed this today. Much room for thought. My main depression is lack of connection & meaninglessness. Preoccupation w time. Thank you. Nodes. Kin. Join everything. Love that. Xx
"Intentionally make room for the interior" - this reminds me of J. B. Kerning's recommendation in his "Der Student" (1837 in German; below are my translations) that you should lock yourself away uninterrupted for an hour a day. Specifically: "You shall be alone with closed doors and windows every day for one hour, but you shall not occupy yourself with your usual studies, but rather thinking about yourself, about your relationship to us, to nature, to God and to humans, and remember each time your mother."
He also wrote: "nothing is more pernicious than eternal reforming. I do not want to say in any way that you have to always leave everything as it was of old, but rather you should graft the new things which you intend to introduce onto the old things so that it has at the same time a strong trunk and secure roots".
Perhaps it is time for a grassroots form of organising, protest and discerning resistance, that transcends just talking. Our test is always crisis. How long do we wait before we act. If the digital shamans and mystics can’t cohere now in common cause, what are we waiting for exactly?
I’d like to co-champion such a thing. None of our circles of immediate engagement are wide enough, some admittedly wider and deeper than others but I sense a call to coherence, convergence and a decidedly human response to an undead wave of change.
"Compost your tech, for instance. Keep old laptops alive with lightweight Linux" ...
I have done this with 2 old laptops that just keep on giving, even one that is only 32 bit. There is an old Dell XP in our basement that has not been turned on in a decade, however, and all out old photos linger there. Good post, Gordon. Thanks
This is great contribution and thoughtful writing ... in so many ways ... with a keen soul that weaves me into community here so that I hone my center as I cast an increasingly mindful and supportive web outward. Your work continues to resonate and is greatly appreciated ✨ 🙏
I love browsing Substack in the morning for this content and not scrolling IG and getting trash . Hopefully we get some solid peak years of Substack before it shittifies into mercantilism
I am already getting adverts in my notifications
I really needed this today. Much room for thought. My main depression is lack of connection & meaninglessness. Preoccupation w time. Thank you. Nodes. Kin. Join everything. Love that. Xx
"Intentionally make room for the interior" - this reminds me of J. B. Kerning's recommendation in his "Der Student" (1837 in German; below are my translations) that you should lock yourself away uninterrupted for an hour a day. Specifically: "You shall be alone with closed doors and windows every day for one hour, but you shall not occupy yourself with your usual studies, but rather thinking about yourself, about your relationship to us, to nature, to God and to humans, and remember each time your mother."
My translation of some of the explanation for why is at https://k-a-nitz.dreamwidth.org/36497.html
He also wrote: "nothing is more pernicious than eternal reforming. I do not want to say in any way that you have to always leave everything as it was of old, but rather you should graft the new things which you intend to introduce onto the old things so that it has at the same time a strong trunk and secure roots".
This is so powerful, and I needed to hear it. Thank you for sharing this!
Amazing writing! I love how this escalated …from musing on enshittification into a rousing ‘now times manifesto’.
Compost before enshittification.
Cleopatra suicide.
Thanks Gordon.
Hi, I’ve been writing about how to solve this problem! i think the solution is developing a cultural engine to remove opacity from our supply chains. I’d love it if you could take a look. https://braedeigh.substack.com/p/the-proper-standard-a-new-moral-framework
Perhaps it is time for a grassroots form of organising, protest and discerning resistance, that transcends just talking. Our test is always crisis. How long do we wait before we act. If the digital shamans and mystics can’t cohere now in common cause, what are we waiting for exactly?
I’d like to co-champion such a thing. None of our circles of immediate engagement are wide enough, some admittedly wider and deeper than others but I sense a call to coherence, convergence and a decidedly human response to an undead wave of change.
"Compost your tech, for instance. Keep old laptops alive with lightweight Linux" ...
I have done this with 2 old laptops that just keep on giving, even one that is only 32 bit. There is an old Dell XP in our basement that has not been turned on in a decade, however, and all out old photos linger there. Good post, Gordon. Thanks
Thank you, well done!
This is fucking great.
This is great contribution and thoughtful writing ... in so many ways ... with a keen soul that weaves me into community here so that I hone my center as I cast an increasingly mindful and supportive web outward. Your work continues to resonate and is greatly appreciated ✨ 🙏